Recently , director Gopichand Malineni visited the Saraswata Niketanam library in Vetapalem town in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh to do research for a film with Nandamuri Balakrishna, and ended up being captivated by the 100-year-old institution.
“I felt like I visited a temple,” says the filmmaker, adding that he spent around four hours in the heritage institution. At the library, Gopichand got to see a newspaper brought out on the day India won Independence – August 15, 1947. “I felt so nostalgic,” he said.
Sharing that the library has books, newspapers, magazines, journals and other documents dated even earlier than the 1920s, he said he had come to know that one person had willed his property to pay for the upkeep of the institution.
Gopichand first heard of the library while he was shooting for one of his earlier films Krack. He had been eager to check it out ever since.
“I needed some information and had to check old newspaper records for my upcoming film, and decided to visit the library,” he revealed.
The visitor’s book at the library has the names of many luminaries, led by Mahatma Gandhi. Apparently, Gandhiji had visited the library to get some information. While he was there, his walking stick broke, and he left it there. The library has preserved the stick carefully, and put it on display, says Gopichand.
India’s first President Babu Rajendra Prasad and former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao are among other prominent personalities who visited the institution. “At this time when people are getting information online and through YouTube videos, I believe it is imperative to go to a library to get authentic data. In fact, you can get information that’s not even available online,” the Pandaga Chesko helmer points out.
“I urge everyone to make book reading a habit, especially during these tough times; it encourages people to find out more about history. I started spending more time on reading these days. For my last film Krack, I had to do extensive research and read books for my script,” says the director, adding that the research work helped him to better the script of his action drama.
Gopichand shared his excitement at visiting the library with another filmmaker, Harish Shankar, who asked him to send a photo of the newspaper edition published on the day he was born in the 1970’s.“Harish felt so amazed to see the image of the newspaper, and said he would also make it a point to visit the library soon,” said Gopichand.
“Meanwhile, the script of his new film is nearing completion. “The more the research, the better the script turns out, so I am in no hurry to wrap up the script,” he says, adding that he is excited to work with Balakrishna. “I am sure it’ll be a cracker of an experience, and I can’t wait to shoot with him,” he says, signing off.
